“There’ll be frost tonight,” he offered.

“Just so long as there’s not snow,” Rebus responded.

“Last thing I need is them shutting the Drumochter Pass.”

“Snow gates?” Rebus guessed.

“That’s the ones. Last winter was a nightmare.”

“You going to Inverness?”

The man nodded. “How about you?”

“Heading back to Edinburgh.”

“Civilization, eh?”

“This seems civilized enough.” Rebus looked in the direction of town.

“Wouldn’t know—I only ever stop to fill up.”

“You travel a lot?”

“Part and parcel, isn’t it? Five, six hundred miles a week, sometimes more.” He gestured towards his vehicle. Behind it, Rebus could see the woman at the till shaking her head in reply to another of Clarke’s questions. “Car’s not even two years old and it’s on its last legs,” the salesman was saying. “How’s the Audi?”

“Seems okay.” Rebus finished his cigarette. “What is it you sell exactly?”

“How long have you got?”

“Let’s say fifteen seconds.”

“Then I’ll give you two words: ‘logistics’ and ‘solutions.’”

“I feel duly enlightened.” Rebus watched as Clarke made her way back to the Audi. “Thanks for that.”

“No problem.” The man took out his phone and was checking for messages as Rebus headed across the forecourt.

“Anything?” he asked, sliding into the passenger seat.

“She wasn’t working that day,” Clarke obliged. “The staff who were have all been questioned. One remembered Annette coming in and asking to use the loo. She bought a bottle of water and headed off again into town.”

“Nice of the bus not to wait for her.”

“Actually, the driver’s mortified. But he was obeying company rules.”

Rebus peered out through the windscreen in search of CCTV.

“Cameras caught her,” Clarke confirmed. “Busy on her phone.”

“Could she have had a rendezvous?”

“No family or friends in Pitlochry.” Clarke thought for a moment. “There’s another camera on the main drag but it failed to pick her out, and none of the shopkeepers remember seeing her.”

“So she’d maybe found a lift straight off…”

“Maybe.”

“Could she have started walking across country?”

“She was a city girl, John. Why would she do that?”

All Rebus could offer to this was a shrug. Clarke checked her watch. “It’s half an hour later now than it was when she set off. She could have passed through town without anyone noticing, maybe not started thumbing till she reached the other end.” She started the ignition and put the car into gear. As they left the forecourt, the salesman gave Rebus a wave.

“He sells solutions,” Rebus explained to Clarke.

“He should be in here with us, then.”

Once they had passed through Pitlochry again, there wasn’t much to do but rejoin the A9. They had the option: south towards Perth or north towards Inverness. Clarke hesitated.

“Let’s give it a few more miles,” Rebus said. “Scenery’s changing; might get more like the photo.”

“We’re not going as far as Aviemore, mind.”

“My skiing days are behind me.”

“You don’t think it would impress Nina Hazlitt?”

“What? Me going skiing?”